These are wood block printed postcards published by Tomikichiro Tokuriki (1902-1999). Tokuriki was both a print maker and a teacher. He is known mainly for his non-postcard prints.
I have not been able to find much information specifically about these Tokuriki postcard prints. I believe that most (possibly all) of these prints represent temples and other scenes of Kyoto, Japan where Tokuriki worked. This following description of Tokuriki is from the metropostcard.com list of postcard publishers:
A woodblock artist who produced both prints and postcards. He came came from a long line of artists dating back to the late 16th century,. Tokuriki worked in two distinct styles, sosaku hanga, a contemporary revival of traditional Japanese techniques and designs, and shin hanga, a woodblock style that incorporated modern Western stylistic elements. Most of his images were produced by the large publishers Uchida and Unsodo, though he did publish some postcards under his own name. They usually have writing on the back in English for they were oriented toward an American audience as the shin hanga style never became very popular in Japan.
These postcards are postwar productions, mainly from the 1950s and 1960s. The earliest one that I can date was postally used in 1954, has “T. Tokuriki” printed on the front, and has a different style back than the others. All cards except the last six shown in the gallery are standard size 3½” X 5½”. Two have the cardstock trimmed to approximately 4-1/8″ X 4-5/8″. The last four are approximately 4-1/8″ X 4-5/8″ and have a newer style postcard back.
I cannot read Japanese, so I can only identify a couple that have names of the scene printed in English. Most have some Japanese writing on the front, and some also have what appear to be artist seals. I don’t know whether the designs were all created by Tokuriki or by various other artists.
The gallery includes some duplicates that were included to show how different prints of the same design can vary.
I would welcome information relating to Tokuriki’s postcards and identification by anyone able to read the Japanese characters printed on the fronts of most of the postcards.
- Title: Kiyamachi (Street, Kyoto), Artist: Unknown, but probably not Tokuriki Tomikichirō
- Title: Moss Temple (Saihōji, Kyoto) Artist: Itō Nisaburō
- Title Yamate (District, Kobe) Night View
- Title: Zaō Hall in Yoshino. Artist: Itō Nisaburō
- Title: Yasaka Shrine (Kyoto)
- Title: Ginkakuji in Snow
- Title: Heian Shrine (Kyoto)”
- Title: Kiyamachi (Street, Kyoto). Artist: Itō Nisaburō
- Title: Kiyamachi (Street, Kyoto). Artist: iItō Nisaburō
- Title: Aoi Festival
- Unsigned and untitled but title might be “Kintai Bridge (Iwasaki) in Winter”
- Title: (Garden of) Tenryūji (in the Rain)
- Artist: Kotozuka Eiichi
- Title: Honenin (Kyoto) (in Autumn)
- Title: Taikyoan (Tea House at) Kōestuji (Kyoto). Postally used 1957
- Title: Ōsaka Castle
- Title: Nara Kasuga Shrine, T. TOKURIKI”, postally used 1954
- Title Kurama Temple (in Winter), Artist: Itō Nisaburō, postally used 1957
- Title Kurama Temple (in Winter), Artist: Itō Nisaburō
- Title: Choin,KYOTO
- Title: Choin,KYOTO
- Title: Rakushisha
- Title: Yasaka Pagoda
- No title – just a Tomikichirō signature bottom left.
- Title: Takao (in Autumn), Artist: Itō Nisaburō
- Title: Arashiyama
- Title: Gion Shinbashi
- Title: Arashiyama
- Title: Ryōanji, Artist Itō Nisaburō
- Title: Ryōanji, Artist Itō Nisaburō
- Title: Kinkakuji, Artist Kotozuka Eiichi
- Title: Kinkakuji, Artist Kotozuka Eiichi
- Title “Heian Shrine, Artist unknown but probably not Tokuriki Tomikichirō
- Artist:: Takahashi Tasaburō
- No title – perhaps “Gion and Yasaka Pagoda”
- Title: Weeping Cherry Blossoms at Heian Shrine
- Title: Heian Shrine Garden (in Winter)
- Title: Iga Hachiman Shrine in Winter”
- Title: Okazaki Castle in Spring
- Title: Summer Festival at Sugō Shrine, Okazaki
- Title: Daiju Temple, Tahō Pagoda (Okazaki) in Fall

maximum card made with a Tukuriki postcard and a 1959 Geisha stamp

back of 1954 Tokuriki postcard

back of most Tokuriki postcards

back of “trimmed” Tokuriki postcards

back of modern size Tokuriki postcards
Below are two postcard print folders. The first contained four standard size Tokuriki postcards when I bought it. The second contained two trimmed Tokuriki postcards and two modern size Uchida published postcards.

wood block print postcard folder

wood block print postcard folder
I have7 of these . Is anyone interested buying them ?
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Kathy – Replying to an old post of yours. I am interested in Tokuriki postcards and pick them up when I see them. Do you still have some to sell?
Pete
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I do not sell postcards
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I was in a junk store yesterday looking for picture frames. I bought the ones I liked put them in a box and brought them home. A lot of them still had pictures of family and friends in them. I was taking them out to throw them away and came across a framed post card with…By Wood-Block Printer T. Tokuriki. I’ve researched all I could find about him on the internet but I can’t find this one postcard. Is there anyway I can send you a picture of it? Maybe you can help me. It’s probably a fake.
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I haven’t been able to find much about Tokuriki either and can’t read the Japanese writing on the cards. There is no reason to believe the postcard is a fake. There are a lot of different scenes, and some are more common than others.It seems like there were multiple artists creating the artwork, but I haven’t been able to discover whether that was the case.
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Tokuriki’s company, still in business with the name Matsukyu, also published cards designed by other artists, for example, by Ito Nisaburo and Kotozuka Eiichi. If you send me an email and will update your page to show my findings, I will identify many of the postcard subjects.
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